


Crush

by Anotherlostblogger



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Buzzfeed: Worth It (Web Series)
Genre: M/M, Polyamory Negotiations, Power Dynamics, Some daddy kink, college professor au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-12-26 09:10:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18280112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Anotherlostblogger/pseuds/Anotherlostblogger
Summary: Professor Andrew Ilynyckj and Professor Shane Madej are friends, nothing more-until Andrew notices the attentions of a certain grad student, and it complicates things...maybe for the better.





	Crush

**Author's Note:**

> *slight daddy kink ahead boys

It's happening again. 

Andrew Ilynyckj watches with no small amusement as another grad student hovers over by Shane's desk, doe-eyed and fresh-faced and hanging on his every word. 

It's not that this never happened to him, necessarily, as another postdoc and mentor....and, okay, all-around not bad looking guy, but Shane was friendly-even if he could be a bit of an asshole. He had a way of making you feel like you were in on the joke.

On the other hand, Shane liked to joke that Andrew had a way of putting the fear of god into his students. What could he say? It's UCLA, not USC. You can't get by with daddy's money. 

He and Shane were supposed to grab lunch after his 19th Century America: The Mysteries and the Legends class ended, but this one kid is taking forever with all his questions. 

Shane stands up to come look over the kid's shoulder, and the boy gulps visibly beneath his snapback. 

Andrew almost feels bad for him. 

For being such a ridiculous caricature of a man, Shane can't help but physically make you feel incredibly small and yet when he looked at you, he had a way of making you feel like you were the most important person in the room. It was a heady combination...for the students, anyway. 

Whatever they were discussing was becoming just heated enough for him to hear. It wasn't easy to rile up Shane, the man was a wall of patience and chill. Andrew stepped in just a little closer to hear the student stammer:

"Y-you can't tell me I can't talk about ghosts when this is a mythology class!" 

"This isn't a mythology class, it's about historical legends-"

"Tell me this isn't a legend!"

Shane scraped a hand over his face and Andrew hid a laugh. 

"Drew," he sighed, as though he was aware he'd been there the whole time, and Andrew stepped closer in.

"Professor Ilynyckj," the kid said respectfully in greeting, and Andrew frowned, trying to place him. 

"I took your War and Memory class," the smaller man prompts him graciously, and it comes back to him.

"Of course," Andrew says, and, hoping he's correct, guesses, "Ryan," and Ryan smiles. 

"I got a haircut, so you might not have recognized me at first," Ryan says generously like he isn't wearing a hat right now, and Andrew exchanges a look with Shane.  

Instead of laughing, like he might've expected, Shane looks painfully endeared. 

Ryan seems to recognize his mistake several steps too late and takes off his hat to show woefully mussed hair. "See," he says. 

It does kind of help, however, he thinks Ryan probably wore a beanie and glasses to his 7:30am class all last semester. 

Nevertheless, Andrew gives Shane a look that says, 'Why is he wasting my time?' and Shane clears his throat. 

"Please, help me explain to this young man that this is a history class, not a fiction writing course," Shane says, and Ryan makes an indignant noise. 

"This is a history class," Andrew tells Ryan in his deadpan voice. "So, as long as you're discussing historical cases-and narratives-you should be fine."

Ryan beams.

"Traitor," Shane mutters. 

Andrew shrugs.

"I want academic, first-hand accounts," Shane tells him, going back into his teaching voice and Ryan nods, his eyes going wide, and he starts taking notes. "None of your forums. Its gotta be textual-"

"Oh, don't worry," Ryan interrupts, "I've got the perfect thing-"

"Great," Shane says, and he gives Ryan's shoulder a squeeze. It has the effect of shutting him up, Andrew notices. Ryan might also be blushing, but it could just be the light.

"I actually have to go, but email me, okay?" 

Ryan nods like a bobble-head, cleaning up his stuff from Shane's desk, and Shane snaps his laptop shut, throwing it in his messenger bag. 

"You ready?" Shane asks and Drew nods.

"Cool."

"Bye," Andrew says, and the last thing he sees of Ryan is him looking up from his notes to wave. "B-bye!"

Ryan watches after them as they leave, and Shane doesn't look back.

"Poor thing," Andrew mutters under his breath. 

"Hmm?" Shane asks, and Andrew just shakes his head. 

➸➸➸

"You know he wants to sleep with you, right?" Andrew asks when they're huddled over pizza, several blocks away from campus.

Shane almost chokes on his pepperoni.

"Who?" he sputters indignantly, and Andrew rolls his eyes so hard they almost fall out of his skull.

"Your little ghost boy," Andrew says and to his surprise, Shane blushes. 

"That's absurd," Shane says, and Andrew gives him a _look._

"Okay, but listen, Drew," Shane tells him, waving his crust at the other man. "We may be enlightened queer men-"

Andrew snorts.

"-but if anything, he's just a baby bisexual, I doubt he's dipped his toes into anything past admitting to himself that Henry Cavil is hot."

Andrew snorts, unimpressed. "I bet you $10 he's on grindr."

"Shut up," Shane says, looking caught between scandalized and intrigued.

Andrew just smiles. Deep down he knows he should drop it. Ryan's his student. He shouldn't be enabling this. 

➸➸➸

He doesn't drop it.

They're three beers deep when he brings it up again. 

"Does Ryan always keep you after class?" he asks, and Shane just narrows his eyes. 

"He's a...a curious boy," Shane says mysteriously, and Andrew stares as Shane puts his mouth around the neck of the bottle. 

"You're telling me, he isn't hot for teacher, because he has a healthy sense of intellectual curiosity," Andrew deadpans but Shane just waves him off. 

"If I told you all of the names of the professors I annoyed in school-"

"We'd be here till next week," Andrew finishes for him, and Shane laughs. "Exactly."

"But is Ryan really annoying you though?" Andrew asks, and Shane just sips his beer. 

➸➸➸

The following week something similar happens, he catches Ryan hanging around basically begging for more homework, another exchange that makes Andrew tease Shane again. He's not sure why he's doing it, except that he likes to make Shane the flustered one for once. 

"Seems like he's a glutton for punishment," Andrew quips. Shane turns a little pink and notably says nothing.

Several weeks after that, Andrew stops by Shane's office and catches Ryan sitting on the corner of Shane's desk while Shane digs through his bookcase. Ryan is kicking his feet and looking thrilled to be there. It doesn't help that when their eyes meet through the cracked door that Ryan flinches like he's caught doing something he shouldn't be doing. Guilty.

"Sorry," Ryan says, clutching at his chest as Andrew knocks and comes in. "I thought I saw a ghost."

"I can see why," Shane quips, but he must see something going on with the look on Andrew's face because he then hands Ryan the book he'd been supposedly looking for before, in a way that clearly means, 'get going, kid' and Ryan takes the hint. 

"Thanks, professor," Ryan says, and then he's ducking out of his office.

Andrew folds his arms over his chest.

"Don't say it-" Shane starts to say but Andrew says it anyway, "So, are you guys fucking or what?"

This time, Shane just sinks against his desk. "No. No, nothing like that-"

"Really."

Shane runs his hands through his hair. "Really."

"But..."

"But he might have a crush on me," Shane confesses quietly, and Andrew lets out a low whistle.

"Really?" he asks in feigned surprise. "You think?" 

Shane grimaces. "I'm not used to this."

"Oh, come on," Andrew says, shaking his head. "You're telling me you've never noticed all of your students have some kinda thing for you?"

"They think I'm funny, that's different-"

"Or they laugh at your bad jokes cause they think you're cute."  

Shane crosses his arms. "This is terrible." 

"What?"

"To find out you don't think I'm funny."

Against his will, Andrew feels his neck heat. "Stop changing the subject." 

"No," Shane says. "If anything, you're the cute evil one, I'm the goofy nice one." 

Andrew doesn't take the bait. 

"A lot of students that flirt with us are just seeking a raised grade," he says. "I don't think that's what's happening here." 

Shane's mouth quirks. "No," he agrees. "I wouldn't recommend arguing with me as the best tactic to getting an A."

"No, but maybe to getting the D," Andrew says like he can't help it...the joke was right there.

Instead of admonishing him, Shane shuts his office door and takes out the bourbon. 

 ➸➸➸ 

They're pleasantly buzzed and loose when Andrew asks, "So...are you going to fuck him?"

Shane sighs. His tie has come off at some point, his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, shown off from where he leans back against his desk. He looks good. Really good.

"Why are you so invested in my imaginary relationship with my student?" Shane questions with a piercing look.

"I'm not," Andrew says, pushing his glass back onto the desk too loudly, but Shane doesn't look convinced. 

"You really are. You seem awfully interested in my sex life." 

"I-" Andrew begins to say, and Shane sets down his own glass, gets closer to where he's seated in one of the chairs. 

"What would you do?" Shane asks, leaning over him, a hand on each arm of the chair. "If he was your student? Would you fuck him?"

Andrew feels his throat bob, but no words come out of his mouth. It's all the evidence he needs, more than if he'd said the words himself. 

Yet there's no trace of disgust on his face as Shane smirks. "I think you would."

Andrew can't deny it.

"Would you take him on this desk?" Shane asks and Andrew knows he's hard.

Shane gives him a long, assessing look, and drops to his knees. He's tall enough that he can still look him in the eye this way, placing his hands on Andrew's thighs and leaning in real close. "Would you push him down against the wood and make him take it?" He's running his thumbs up the inseam of his trousers, so close to where Andrew's straining against the fabric.

"Shane," Andrew croaks. "Don't tease."

So Shane undoes his belt, and swallows him down, and doesn't tease.

➸➸➸

Andrew tells himself it's not going to be a thing, but of course, it is. 

It's easy to do this when they flirt with something so taboo, in fact, it's even better this way, more exciting, to the point where it becomes a game between them. Whoever can get Ryan the most riled up, whoever can flirt with him the most openly (whilst still leaving the route for plausible deniability) wins.

It goes like this: Shane leans over him to point something out in a book, till they're practically spooning. Andrew tells him he likes his new sweater, compliments how he looks like he's been working out. 

Shane actually does the eyelash trick thing one day, the oldest trick in the book, and Andrew has to keep from laughing out loud with how spellbound the boy is. He stumbles over his feet when Shane steps away, touching his own cheek. Obviously, there was never an eyelash there in the first place, but he has a feeling Ryan wants to believe. 

Poor little Ryan.

Andrew might've felt worse about it if it didn't mean better sex for him later-but it always did. 

➸➸➸ 

For someone who lived in cardigans and flannels and lived off of green tea out of witty mugs, looking like the softest professor around, Shane fucked like a beast, and Andrew loved it.

He loves the marks against his throat and the fingerprints against his thighs. 

Even if it was just a game, even if meant that sometimes Andrew would say, "Please, professor," and bat his eyes at him to rile him up, it was too good to pass up. So he doesn't.

It's too easy to joke that all Ryan wants is a Daddy, what with those eyes and the way he moons over him....and if Shane thinks it's something hot enough worth fucking him over, so be it. 

➸➸➸ 

Towards the end of the semester, Andrew could almost pretend this wasn't about Ryan. He stopped dropping by when he knew Ryan would be there and instead waited for the inevitable booty calls.

By the time the end of semester projects were due, Andrew was knee-deep in grading finals when he got the call.

"Ryan...propositioned me," Shane said, gasping and sounding out of breath, and Andrew had a sudden startling moment where he thought Shane was calling him while Ryan was sucking him off.

"He-what? Where are you?" Andrew asked, but then he was opening the door to his office, wild-eyed and crazy-haired like he'd just come from the other floor...

"Did you just...run all the way here?" Andrew gawped but Shane waved his hand distractedly.

He was pacing the floor.

"He said, he said, 'I really like you,' and-and he wanted to wait till I wasn't his teacher-"

"Oh my god," Andrew said, clicking his door shut to keep out any peering eyes and Shane continued. 

"He said, 'I know Professor Ilynyckj is your boyfriend-'"

"Oh, _god-_ " Andrew said, feeling himself blush. Where did he get that idea?  
  
"-but, and I quote, 'I'll take anything you want to give me.'"

Andrew sank slowly back into his chair. Shane was still talking, running his hands through his hair, but all Andrew could hear was the blood rushing through his ears.

"You think it's a bad idea," Shane said, and Andrew blinked as he came to. He'd missed whatever Shane had said before that, but he could guess.

"Uh," Andrew said. "Well." 

"Fuck," Shane said, coloring. "I know...I mean, I know it was a...kinky thing, but I thought-"

"Shane, no," Andrew interrupted, "If he's not your student anymore, I mean, he's what, twenty-five?"

Shane ran his hand through his hair again, nodding, waiting. 

"Do it," Andrew said, growing more confident every second. "Fuck, you know it'll be good. Just..." he took a shaky breath and smiled, "Just tell me about it later."

This felt appropriately self-sacrificing, as Andrew couldn't help imagining that the moment they kissed they might magically become boyfriends and run off to explore haunted 19th Century mansions together or something.  

To his surprise, Shane was giving him a strange look.

"Andrew," Shane said. "You're gonna be there, too."

 ➸➸➸ 

Ryan, as it turned out, thought they were a thing.

More than that, he thought (or had hoped) that all this flirting they’d been doing was their way of showing they were looking for a third.

It's not that the thought hadn't entirely (explosively) crossed his mind before, but Andrew never in a million years expected to be playing house with Shane at his apartment, the week after grades were in, with Ryan sitting across from them over pasta and blushing every time Shane took his 'boyfriend' by the hand or kissed him on the cheek.

Clearly, the couple thing was doing it for Ryan, and so Shane felt the need to really play that up.

Andrew would be lying if he said it didn't do it for him, either.

"You guys are such a power couple," Ryan said, one glass of red in, and Shane smiled, resting an arm around the back of Andrew's chair. Andrew would've scoffed but Shane smelled good, and he liked the excuse to lean back against him.

"You're kind of a nerd," Andrew says without malice, and Ryan grins. His lips are very red. Andrew allows himself to stare.

"Don't be rude to our guest," Shane says, as though Andrew lives here too, but he doesn't correct him.

Ryan giggles, clearly smitten and equally eager to take the 'unicorn' role in this relationship. 

It made Andrew wonder if he was kinkier than they thought, or just had low self-esteem. Who else showed up hoping to be used?

 ➸➸➸ 

Ryan did. Ryan clearly did.

Whatever it was that lead them to this lead them to the bedroom.

Ryan kissed like he just wanted to be wanted, and Andrew ripped his stupid, pretty show-off sweater off his too-ripped body, and pushed him back into Shane.

Shane kissed him like the music swelled and they had cameras spinning around them. He holds his face in his too-big hands, and Ryan just melts.

Andrew isn't jealous, because that'd be dumb. He isn't jealous, because he and Ryan are nothing alike and Shane wants them both.

He isn't jealous because Shane wants him there, wants to share Ryan with him. 

And in fact, he does.

Shane holds Ryan still on his bed while Andrew feeds him his dick, holds him by the hair and keeps him there through it.

And if you thought he wasn't into it, that's only cause you didn't hear the sounds he made, like he was getting _his_ dick sucked-it was pornographic, it was absurd, it was...really, really hot. 

He's there when Shane discovers that Ryan prepared himself ahead of time (he was definitely absolutely on Grindr). He's there when Shane pushes Ryan face first onto the mattress, as Ryan gasps, and says, "Daddy, daddy, please," and Shane makes him take it, take it, take it.

And he's there when it's all over, cause Shane doesn't make him leave. Doesn't make either of them go, and for once, Andrew doesn't make himself sneak away.

Ryan clings to Shane between them when they fall asleep, but when he wakes, Ryan's holding onto him, too.

 ➸➸➸ 

Ryan sucks dick like he's made for it, and he does them both before he goes off to work, leaving them panting messes in Shane's bed. 

He gets a little shy before he says goodbye but there's nothing coy about the open invitation he lays out for them.

Shane is still laying there, smitten (truly smitten, like God himself smote him into the mattress), with the most dazed look on his face and Andrew allows himself to feel a little jealousy here. He knows he has nothing to complain about, so he lets it stew in his stomach as he searches for his underwear among the clothes spread across the floor. He thinks Ryan might have grabbed the wrong pair by "mistake". Brat.

"Can you believe our boy?" Shane asks the ceiling, and Andrew feels the twist again. 

" _Our_ boy?" Andrew asks, and he knows he sounds bitter. 

"Are you-" Shane begins, and he looks self-conscious again. With puppy dog eyes of his own, Andrew finds himself helplessly drawn back to the bed. "Am I what?"

"Are you mad at me?" Shane asks, and Andrew scrubs a hand over his face. "No."

"I'm not convinced."

"Well, I'm not mad," Andrew snaps.

Shane groans and falls back against the pillows. "Did you have a bad time? Tell me what I did so I can fix it, please."

"I didn't have a bad time," Andrew says, and that's genuinely, really true, it kinda hurts how much it's true, to the point that, when Shane grabs his hand, Andrew wants to yank it away so he can't read the feelings he's got mixed up, crossing all over his face. 

"Was it the couple thing?" Shane asks, astute as ever, and Andrew feels his face color. "No."

"Liar," Shane says, and he nuzzles Andrew's hand until he takes it back.

Shane laughs, but when he sees Andrew isn't laughing he stops.

"Look, if it's too much, we don't have to do this again."

"Fine," Andrew says numbly, and Shane crawls up on the bed on his knees to be next to him. 

"Andrew," he says softly, "I'm not a mind-reader, unlike what Ryan might believe.." that gets Andrew to crack a smile.

"If I did something wrong...or if pretending to be a couple hurt you-"

Andrew averts his gaze.

"Do you want to date me?" Shane asks quietly, and mortifyingly, Andrew feels himself blush.

"Is that all?" Shane gawps. "Andrew! You have feelings!"

"Fuck you," Andrew swears, moving from his arms, but Shane pulls him back into his embrace anyway, smearing obnoxiously loud kisses against his face.

"For me!" Shane says, "I mean, you have feelings for me."

Andrew mumbles nonsense under his breath but Shane holds him close. "Andrew," he says fondly, pulling back to kiss his cheek. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"Because you like Ryan," Andrew says pettily and Shane sighs.

"Can't I like you both?" he asks in a small voice, and Andrew feels his resolve cracking beneath him. Against his better judgement, he smiles.

➸➸➸ 

It's happening again.

Ryan's coming over to their place after dinner, and Shane is telling him not to fuss about cooking because Ryan lives off of frozen burritos anyway, and Andrew is arguing that that's why they should make him some real food, and its a familiar argument, but one that Andrew really, truly doesn't mind.

He's only been living here for a couple of months now, but it's so natural, they'd survived the transition from coworkers to friends, they could make it from fuckbuddies to partners.

At this point, Ryan's practically living with them anyway, it's only a matter of time before they ask him if he wants to move in. Ryan's in his last semester of coursework before he moves onto his thesis-in a few years he'll be teaching too. 

They're not sure what the road looks like ahead, but Ryan's their boy.

It's clear from the way Ryan beams at him when he answers the door, the way he kisses him hello, the way he hangs off of his every word about his day, and laughs at his stupid jokes, that he was jealous-was worried-about nothing.

He may be Shane's, but he's Andrew's too. 


End file.
